


If You Need Me, You Know Where I'll Be

by Velocity_Owl87



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Alien Biology, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Families of Choice, Gen, Hiding in Plain Sight, Hopeful Ending, Implied Mpreg, Introspection, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Self-Discovery, Self-Exile, Self-Sacrifice, Slice of Life, Survival
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-01
Updated: 2018-08-01
Packaged: 2019-06-19 20:58:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15518439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Velocity_Owl87/pseuds/Velocity_Owl87
Summary: Qui-Gon didn't get away from the first duel with Darth Maul in the desert and somehow ends up convincing the Sith to turn to a different path that will surely be safer for all concerned. Surprisingly, Maul agrees, starting a life in exile that has them progressing from wary roommates to partners, to a family.A family that Obi-Wan, still mourning the loss of his Master, ends up finding in the last place he ever expected.





	If You Need Me, You Know Where I'll Be

**Author's Note:**

> This was another sideways conversation that somehow gained life and became its own story. So here we are with this concept of Maul actually *listening* to someone and deciding that he'd rather have his own life, rather than listen to some crazy, power-hungry old man. 
> 
> Many thanks to [Captain_Kiri_Storm](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Captain_Kiri_Storm/pseuds/Captain_Kiri_Storm) whose conversation and help is always greatly appreciated.

When the Sith showed up, Qui Gon almost rolled his eyes. Of course, nothing would go easily in this mission. He made a mental note to apologise to Obi-Wan for dismissing his intuition. He also reminded himself to add some kind of sweet treat for him as an extra apology. 

Right now, he needed to make sure that the others were safe and to fight this threat that had been like a storm cloud hanging over their heads. They could deal with everything else later. Including making up all of the shortcomings caused by this mission. 

Qui Gon got his lightsaber out and shouted at Anakin to get onto the ship. As long as Anakin, Obi-Wan and Padme where on the ship, he could take care of things. He was glad that Obi-Wan was already on the ship and would handle the flying. He could hold off the Sith for the time being.

He was the better fighter, with a longer reach. Despite Obi-Wan catching up to his skill level, Qui Gon could fighter harder and could press on more than anyone else. It made sense for him to be the one to hold down the fort and fight. He trusted Obi-Wan to be the one to pick up his slack if the worst were to happen in this duel.

Qui Gon grimaced as he got himself into a fighting stance, with very little time to spare as the Sith attacked. Qui Gon grimaced at the sight of the staff. He would have to be more defensive in his attacks, or rush at the Sith and work at finishing him off quickly. He didn’t think he’d be able to have a prolonged battle out here in the desert. There wasn’t the time to do so. 

He grit his teeth and attacked, moving quickly, battering the Sith. 

Oddly enough, the Sith could keep up with the barrage of blows, but it was tough for him. Something Qui Gon himself could sense through the Force as a dark ink spreading through a pristine cloth. It made his mouth twist at the feel of it: thick, oily, and vaguely nauseating. 

He wanted to gag at the feel of it, but Qui Gon wouldn’t let it affect his performance. He had several young lives depending on him. He couldn’t fail them. So he pressed on, feeling the Sith’s frustration rise up like a dark tsunami in the Force. 

It was almost suffocating, but Qui Gon forced his way through it to redouble his attack to clear his path onto the waiting ship. It was time. They needed to get going lest they miss their chance to seek help. 

The Sith grinned, making Qui Gon recoil at the sight of the blackened teeth, backing away from him. He threw a glance over his shoulder, feeling relief at seeing Obi-Wan had started the take-off process. Anakin stood at the ramp, watching anxiously for Qui Gon to resolve the fight in some sort of matter and get onto the ship. 

It was the sight of Anakin and feeling Obi-Wan’s anxiety that pushed him to make one last attack before making a run for the ramp. 

He pushed with the Force to give himself that last bit of strength and height to do so.

He didn’t think of it, he instinctively jumped. 

And was yanked backwards onto his back in the sand.

He saw Anakin’s mouth open and felt Obi-Wan’s anguish as he debated to stay or to go.

_ “Go, Obi! Go! I’ll find my way back! Now go! I need all of you safe. I need  _ you _ to be safe. Now go!” _

He felt’s Obi-Wan’s despair at the order. Just like he felt his determination to do what was asked of him. The ramp was closed, the last sight Qui Gon had of Anakin being his shocked face. A sight that was replaced by the face of the Sith. 

“Do what you came to do.”

Qui Gon rasped out, making the Sith grin and expose those awful teeth again.

“That will come later.”

A low, well-modulated voice replied, amusement clearly evident in his voice before the hilt of his lightsabre came down onto Qui Gon’s head and he knew no more.

~*~*~*~*

_ “Await for instructions.” _

He mulled over the command of his Master as he sat in the interior of his ship, with the Jedi restrained upon the spare camp bed in the corner. 

That had been all of the communication he had received from his usually meticulous master and it had been hours prior to the mission. Maul was at a loss as to what to do next. He had derailed the Jedi’s plans in taking the Master of the boys and the Queen of Naboo. 

It had been just as his master had asked, but now, he had a problem. A six foot four problem that was his prisoner and was unnerving to Maul as he knew he was to the Jedi.

And to top things off, there was this humming anticipation in the dark and light side of the Force. He knew that it was happening since he could see the discomfort in the Jedi, despite his attempts to meditate and release his emotions. Something not possible with the Force suppressant he had been injected with. It was there and Maul knew that it was a jumping off point to something. To what? He didn’t know. 

He wasn’t sure whether it would be a welcome change or not. Only that it was on its way.

Pushing those thoughts to the side, Maul rubbed his chin as he contemplated the Jedi lying across from him. His tall frame was folded enough to stay on the bed. His eyes, those dark navy slanted eyes that felt as if he knew all of Maul’s secrets were fixed upon him. He was quiet and watchful, waiting for Maul to make the first move. 

The Jedi had woken up a few minutes earlier, shock and confusion writ large upon his face that had made Maul smirk.

“I’m awaiting orders, that’s why you’re still alive.”

Maul explained, enjoying himself as the Jedi gave him a baleful glare.

“And when you get them? Is that when you’ll kill me? Seems kind of pointless to wait. I don’t expect a long-range plan from a Sith.”

He countered in a mild tone that made Maul’s hackles rise. How dare this arrogant fool reproach him as if he was a child!

“Well, I don’t expect understanding and foresight from a Jedi, so I guess both of us will stand to be disappointed now, aren’t we?”

It was a small flinch, but Maul saw it and sat back, pleased that he had scored a shot. The pleasure hid the swirling vortex of emotions churning inside of him. The pressure of the change was getting worse, causing him to rub his horns and self-soothe to cope.

“I guess we will if we expect this to end the way we  _ think _ it will.”

The Jedi replied quietly, as if he was confirming something to himself, which made Maul’s uneasiness increase tenfold. 

“How do you think it will end,  _ Jedi?”  _ Maul hissed. 

“I don’t know, to be honest. I don’t work with the future, I’m afraid that’s not my forte, eh...May I ask your name? I’m Qui Gon Jinn, by the way. I figure if we’re going to be here, we might as well know each other’s names rather than referring to each other as ‘Sith’ and ‘Jedi’. Gets bothersome, you see.”

Maul’s lips twitched at the sheer absurdity of the situation, but he had to admit that Jinn had a point. 

Especially since he was starting to think that they sounded like something out a cheap holonovel.

“Fine. I’m Darth Maul. So you think you’re going to walk out of here once my master gives me my orders?”

Jinn shrugged. “I don’t know. It all depends whether you think that’s what will happen. Which you are starting to doubt. You haven’t received orders in a while and now you’re questioning what he wants from you. Or if you will have a place beside him after this. I have no doubt that he knows about the boy and his abilities.”

Maul chewed on his bottom lip, rubbing his horns at that. 

He hated to admit it, but Jinn had a point. He  _ was _ starting to doubt what plans his Master had for him since he was all too aware that he was seen as nothing more than a tool. In his more self-reflective moments, when he thought of Kilindi and Zero and the way they had been destroyed, that his master didn’t care for his well-being. Only what he could do for him.

He had started to question his position when he had become aware of the older Jedi. His doubts had flared up when he had sensed the boy. Jinn wasn’t lying, as much as Maul wanted to think he was. 

He wasn’t using the Force. These were his words and his deductions and Maul knew that they were the truth. He was a tool that would be replaced sooner, rather than later. 

A tool that had become obsolete when two stronger Force users came onto the playing board.

He could deny it, but the Force was nudging him towards believing Jinn’s simply put logic. 

Jinn had accepted his fate. He wasn’t trying to trick Maul into setting him free. He was well aware that Maul had been given a directive. He hadn’t said anything that Maul himself hadn’t been thinking or dwelling upon earlier. 

As much as it was against the lessons he had learned through pain and abuse, he was leaning towards following the old thoughts that Jinn’s quiet questions had awoken.

They sat in silence, both stewing in their own thoughts when Maul gave a low snarl. Sitting up abruptly, he stalked towards the front of his ship, leaving Jinn to blink after him.

After some swearing and tampering, Maul appeared, unlocking the restraints on Jinn’s hands, taking his place across from him on the other camp bed in the ship.

“If I don’t stay or follow orders, you have to come with me. I’d forfeit my own life and maybe yours if I let you run back to your temple.”

Jinn’s mouth thinned in displeasure at that. 

“Would you really? It’s the Jedi temple. I could find ways to help you-”

“Your Order is blind and compromised. Already, a Jedi Master is being seduced to leave. If my master already has influence there, do you think that getting rid of you or me would be that much of a stretch?”

Jinn sat perfectly still, his eyes focused inward, moving back and forth as he weighed Maul’s statements with what he knew. 

Maul watched him, musing on the fact that it was probably the same way that he had looked earlier, thinking and evaluating what he had just been told against what he had been indoctrinated to believe.

“I’m taking a chance on you, Maul. Let’s hope it doesn’t backfire.”

Maul grinned mirthlessly.

“I can’t promise anything.”

Jinn sighed but shrugged his shoulders.

“It will have to do.”

~*~*~*~*~

The first few months were some of the most awkward he’d experienced in...well, forever. 

Maul was used to abuse, brutal punishment, neglect, and despair. 

He wasn’t used to having a steady, soft presence around him that demanded nothing and asked for nothing, yet visited all sorts of kindnesses upon him. 

He couldn’t understand it. 

The first month they had laid low in Tatooine itself, he had watched Qui Gon like a hawk. He was expecting the inevitable betrayal of the man at any moment and after a month, when nothing had happened, he had to admit that he felt decidedly foolish, waiting for an attack that wasn’t ever going to come. 

He then got suspicious about the food that Qui Gon made for both of them. He had always made do with whatever he had at hand and here was this  _ Jedi _ actually making the effort to make him meals he liked and could eat. He doubted that the Jedi was trying to poison him so blatantly, so he ate it all up. 

After all, he didn’t want the kills to go to waste. And Qui Gon was a dab hand at spicing food up just right.

If Qui Gon was trying to lull him into a false sense of security with good food, he was succeeding. But Maul was too well fed to really care. For once, his horns weren’t cracked and his skin was glossy and soft to the touch, with no dry places. It was a novel experience to get steady meals and distrust or not, he wasn’t going to give them up. 

Then there was the tea, something that happened by accident and Maul was still trying to figure out if it was a good thing or not.

He had been caught out in the night, chasing one of the herd animals for a Hutt. 

It wasn’t the best paying job he could get, but they needed the credits. Qui Gon had landed a bookkeeping position to Maul’s bartending one, which made him good money but wasn’t steady. Not to mention that no matter how soused the patrons got, they remembered a red and black Zabrak breaking their noses. 

He had opted to take these kinds of farmhand jobs partly to stay hidden, and partly to get away from Qui Gon and his confusing kindness.  

It was making him feel things that he hadn’t felt since Kilindi and Zero and he had enough insight to know that he needed to sort out whether he was starting to feel some kind of emotional attachment towards the calm and patient Jedi he had more or less kidnapped. He could now admit it, maybe even feel a bit of pity for all that the man had left behind, but no regret. Never regret. 

He had been frustrated, he could admit that. He didn’t want to have that attachment and he was sure Qui Gon didn’t either. So he had no choice but to stay out of the way for the time being. 

Even if it did start to make Qui Gon a bit sad. Something he concealed very well, yet occasionally peeked through. Maul couldn’t blame him and he had started to feel a bit guilty about avoiding the man. But not guilty enough to stick around and start building a deeper bond that the Jedi craved. 

He missed his apprentice, the bond between them frayed enough to push Qui Gon out of the small dwelling and disappear, leaving Maul lying in bed worrying whether the Jedi would come back. 

He always did return, leaving Maul a covered dish full of dinner when he woke up the next day. It comforted him to see that covered dish that always smelled heavenly and told him that Qui Gon wasn’t going to leave him without any warning. The man had a loyal and mothering streak a mile wide and Maul found himself actually craving the products of it and he realised he would miss it. 

He groaned as he hunted down the missing eopie, cursing it out, and trying to push down the fact that he was catching feels no matter which way he looked at it. Even if he wasn’t looking at Qui Gon as a possible romantic partner, he was looking at him as a roommate and possible friend. He was attached. 

He swore loudly when he caught sight of the ill-tempered eopie. 

Without missing a beat, he rushed towards it and wrangled it down, wrestling a bridle onto the eopie despite it trying to bite him and fight him. He snarled at the beast, cowing it and making it docile enough for the long trek. 

A long trek that was made worse by a sudden downpour that had both of them soaked and chilled to the bone. 

And making Maul snarl out filthy Sith curses the whole way back to the stables and then to the dwelling that he hoped would have a pile of towels and a hot meal. He was shivering so violently that his stomach muscles hurt in an effort to not pull anything. He clenched his mouth shut in an effort to not bite his tongue on his sharp teeth. A bloody tongue was the last thing he needed on that karked night. 

Sniffing and wiping water away, he rushed into the dwelling and shucked off his boots and clumsily tried to take off his soaked clothes with his cold and useless hands. He swore softly a couple of times and tried to get his stiff fingers to move, trying to unlace his tunics. His shivering amped up a notch and he could have started to cry with how cold and defenceless and  _ useless _ he felt at that moment. 

He sighed and debated whether he would have to rip off his clothes when he found himself looking into Qui Gon’s chest.

“Let me help. I promise it’s not a trap.” 

Qui Gon’s voice rumbled as the man reached out and started to carefully unlace the strings and pull off the wet clothes off of him, replacing them with soft, warmed towels. Maul snuggled into the warmth and sighed as it seeped into his skin and bones. Once he was sufficiently warm, he started to rub himself dry. It was heaven.

Qui Gon took his clothes somewhere and returned with a mug of hot, spiced tea. 

Maul would later deny that he whimpered when Qui Gon wrapped his hands around the mug and walked him towards the warmest part of the house. Nor would he admit to sighing in relief when a bowl of heavy, thick and warmth broth along with flatbread was shoved under his nose without a word. 

He supposed it was the unselfish kindness and anticipation of his needs that made him finally break his stubborn avoidance and suspicion of Qui Gon. 

He supposed that was the reason why he asked Qui Gon to stay while he ate.

He did later admit that he felt the Force hum in approval at that. 

~*~*~*~*~

It was a little after he got the job as a general mechanic in a local garage that things irrevocably changed between them and Maul still wasn’t sure how he didn’t see it coming. He should have been more aware of it, yet he was too tired of keeping up his own guard and trying to untangle the myriad of unwanted feelings that Qui Gon and his actions brought up in him. He maybe should have seen it coming and prepared for it, but he hadn’t. So it happened.

He had been good about scheduling shifts to avoid Qui Gon, keeping the status quo that had started five or six-month cycles back. But work had picked up and they needed everyone to be at the garage. So he had been waking up around mid-noon and awkwardly making small talk while stuffing his face with the gorgeous breakfasts Qui Gon cooked, drinking the tea brewed there before taking off for work. It was working to keep some kind of relationship between them and minimizing the distance that he knew hurt Qui Gon and life went on as usual. 

Until it didn’t. 

Maul knew that something was not right in their little dwelling when the air felt still and stagnant. There were no scents of cooking or the kettle burbling away as it always was in the early afternoon. As if no one was around or alive. The Force itself was quiet as if it was holding its breath, waiting for something to happen. 

He didn’t have to go in today and would have gone back to sleep if it hadn’t been for the moans of pain coming from the alcove Qui Gon was using as his room. He headed over and lightly knocked on the wooden screen they had scrounged up somewhere to be used as a door. Maul waited for a few moments before he heard another moan, this one painfilled and needy. 

Maul felt the blood rushing to his ears in response and his heartbeat speed up. He knew that sound, that pitch. He didn’t quite recall from where it was exactly, but he knew the sound and he was reacting to it. Already, whatever reservations he might have had were melting away with the clear sounds of Qui Gon’s distress. 

“Qui Gon? Are you well?”

He called out, bracing himself against the screen. To push himself away or to shove it aside, he wasn’t sure. 

“ _ Maul _ …”

It was as if he had been hit by a shock at the tone of Qui Gon’s voice. It was full of pure, raw, need and Maul couldn’t resist. It was as if he had been ensnared by that one word. He was caught and he couldn’t walk away. Not even if he wanted to. 

He pushed the screen away and entered the alcove, growling in lust when he scent of wet grass hit him. It was all coming from Qui Gon, who was naked on the pallet, the sheets pooled down at his waist, his hand under it, making Maul’s eyes zoom directly to what he was doing. The scent rose strong and almost choking in the air and Maul found himself instinctively going towards the human in the bed, his clothes discarded in a pile behind him. 

He lay down beside Qui Gon, watching him for a few moments before he reached over and stroked Qui Gon’s sweaty face with his hand, gently as to not rip open the delicate skin under his claws. He had learned through trial and error that he could easily tear human skin if he wasn’t careful. He watched Qui Gon’s eyes flutter open at the touch. His eyes, glassy and dark, fixed themselves upon him.

“Maul...You shouldn’t be here.”

Maul knew. He knew that it was the one out he was getting from Qui Gon.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

Qui Gon shook his head. 

“I thought I could get suppressants here.”

Maul snorted at that. “Should have planned better, Qui Gon. Now, what do we do?”

Qui Gon smiled thinly. “You don’t have to do anything. Just leave me some water and some ration bars. I’ll be fine. Not comfortable, but I’ll be fine.”

Maul minutely shook his head, then leaned in and kissed Qui Gon. 

The man sighed, pulling Maul closer. He desperately needed this, in the deep throes of heat. It was a miracle that he had been coherent enough to actually explain. Maul complied, pulling the sheets away and hooking a leg over Qui Gon’s hip. 

He deepened the kiss, exploring Qui Gon’s mouth a few more moments before he pulled away and looked at Qui Gon. 

“I want to stay with you.”

He admitted in a low, gravelly voice. 

Qui Gon’s eyes fluttered half-closed. “Are you sure?”

Maul nodded. “Very much so.”

He was done hiding from his feelings and from what was growing between himself and Qui Gon. This was it. And he wasn’t going to walk away from this. Or Qui Gon.

Qui Gon breathed deeply, then exhaled.

Right before he rolled over on top of Maul, straddling him. 

“Have you done this before?”

Maul shook his head, mouth dry at the feel of Qui Gon on top of him, rutting against him and slick pooling on his groin. The sensations made him get hard and a whine escape his throat. 

Qui Gon smiled. 

“I’ll show you.”

Maul gasped as Qui Gon rolled his hips against Maul’s groin, making him whine and moan in his sudden neediness. In turn, Qui Gon worked him, getting him to that edge of neediness, nearly bursting right when he shifted and got Maul inside of himself. 

Later, Maul wondered why he didn’t explode right then and there. It was like  _ nothing _ he had ever felt or experienced before. It was wet and wonderful and so warm. It was the best feeling he had experienced up to that point of his life and he was going to enjoy it. 

He bucked up, making Qui Gon give a breathy laugh as he put his hands on the stone shelf above his bed to steady himself as he met Maul’s thrust with his own. Maul groaned, his own noise lost in the loud cry torn from Qui Gon’s throat. The sounds kept coming as they moved against each other, speeding up once they had found their rhythm.

Maul remembered it was almost like a fever dream, the length of their coming together. He remembered the dreamy mood of the afternoon, the way that the sweat-slicked down Qui Gon’s back and how he himself brushed Qui Gon’s sweat-soaked hair out of his face. How Qui Gon smiled and how he brushed his hand over the horns on the crown of his head. 

How Qui Gon looked after he had orgasmed and how the world had exploded in his vision and in the force once in had happened. He was thoroughly sated in a way that he hadn’t been before and he was glad to have Qui Gon in his arms. He was purring as he snuggled into him, prompting Maul to do the same before they went off to sleep. 

~*~*~*~*~

It’s not quite a bomb out of the blue, but it still takes him by surprise when Qui Gon dumps the pile of credits on the kitchen table one evening when both of them are off work. 

“Why are you showing your savings to me?”

Qui Gon smiled wryly and took the hefty bag away as he sat down across from Maul.

“I think it’s time. We’ve been here almost a year. No one has come looking and we have enough to go somewhere else to settle. Tatooine isn’t a place I want to permanently stay in.”

Maul shrugged. “Why not? It’s served us well so far. Looking at your savings and mine, I’d say we’re doing well.”

“We are if it was the two of us alone. It won’t be, in three months. I’m carrying your children and the last thing we need is for them draw anyone’s notice. Can you imagine what a Hutt would do for a half Zabrak, half Yavinese?”

That was enough to press Maul into action. 

“Where should we go then?”

He asked, standing up and clasping Qui Gon into a tight embrace. He didn’t think it would have been possible. They weren’t exactly fully human and Qui Gon wasn’t as young as he once had been. It was a complete shock, but a good one. 

He wasn’t alone in the galaxy. He had another purpose in life and he had a solid partner beside him. They could make this work, away from the Dark side and the Jedi. He had faith that it was possible.

“Yavin IV? Stewjon? Dantooine?”

Qui Gon hummed and tilted his head to look at his savings. 

“Mandalore. We can only do so much.”

He didn’t say the rest out loud, but Maul could catch his worry and concern that the credits they had wouldn’t be enough to settle themselves and the kittens to come in a new world. 

“Mandalore should be fine. When do you think we should go?”

Qui Gon rubbed his face. 

“Next week?”

Maul nodded. 

“It will be done then.”

~*~*~*~*~

Obi-Wan felt a pang of nostalgia as he and Anakin walked off the ship and towards the entrance of the city of Mandalore. 

It had been a different place then, wrecked by civil war and warring factions. But now, he could hardly tell that this was the same planet. The Death Watch was gone and the Duchess Satine Kryze was in power. 

He blushed a bit at the memories of a year spent on the run with the Duchess and-

He felt as if he was doused in ice water the moment he thought of Qui Gon. Despite the years and the low thrumming bond giving him assurance that he was still alive and somewhere out there, the anguish of missing him didn’t cease. Nor did the pain associated with any memory lose its sting. 

He missed him so much!

Anakin being at his side as his student had helped ease the loss, but it wasn’t going to ever go away. Qui Gon was gone and there was no way to ever get him back again. 

He winced again as he pushed that loss into the Force. 

It wasn’t the time. Not when he needed to start opening up accords with Mandalore and see where they stood amongst the rumoured list of planets leaning towards the Separatist movement that had started to show itself amongst the Outer and Mid Rim Planets. 

He doubted that the Duchess would go that route, but the Council and the Senate wanted to play it carefully. So here he was, alongside his fifteen-year-old apprentice, trying to suss out sympathies and then report back what he found. It was a simple mission, yet Obi-Wan couldn’t help but feel out of sorts. 

It could have been just the memories that Mandalore brought. 

Or it could be the Force. 

Yet when he prodded, nothing was amiss, so he had to chalk it up to the memories of one of the most tumultuous periods of his apprenticeship. 

“Master?”

He looked at Anakin and smiled reassuringly at his padawan. 

“I’m fine, Anakin. It’s just that this planet holds a lot of memories for me. One of my longest missions was here, helping to protect the Duchess.”

Anakin raised an eyebrow. “With Master Jinn?”

Obi-Wan nodded. 

“I’m sorry. I wish I could have known him. He sounds like a good master.”

Obi-Wan was saved from replying by the arrival of the Duchess and her entourage.

“Ah, Master Kenobi. It has been awhile.”

Obi-Wan coloured, making Anakin smile at how animated he appeared at seeing the Duchess of Mandalore again. 

Maybe Anakin hoped, Maybe his Master would be able to soothe the bruised wounds of his soul and he would be able to put the past aside. 

He could hope.

~*~*~*~*~

“Anakin, are you sure you need those parts? Now?”

Obi-Wan asked in a mildly exasperated tone as his apprentice dragged him through the Mandalore market in search for a component and a transistor that he just  _ desperately _ needed to have and swore up and down that it would only take a second. 

“One of the guards said that there was a great electronics and mechanics shop around here run by a Zabrak and his wife? Or something like that. They’ve got a good selection and prices!  _ Please _ , Master Obi-Wan?”

Obi-Wan found himself giving in, despite his determination to not get sucked into those puppy eyes Anakin was  _ so _ good at giving. Besides, it wasn’t as if he didn’t deserve some kind of treat. He had been patient during the dull and dragged out negotiations which always were the case when it came to dealing with Satine. He deserved something and Obi-Wan was feeling generous. 

“Oh, very well. Lead the way.”

Anakin’s face lit up as if the suns of his home planet had risen and Obi-Wan knew he’d made the right choice. Maybe he was a bit soft on him, but Obi-Wan couldn’t bring himself to not be attached to him. He had already lost Qui Gon and he regretted that he missed the opportunity to tell him exactly how much he meant to him. 

At least he knew why Qui Gon had chosen to stay behind. To save them. That was how much they, especially him, meant to Qui Gon. After that, Obi-Wan vowed to not be as closed-off and unattached with all the other beings in his life. So he didn’t reprimand Anakin as he should have and pulled him away to their quarters. 

He half-listened to Anakin’s chatter as they walked through the market, his attention being taken up by the usually dormant bond he had with Qui Gon humming awake. 

Odd time for it, Obi-Wan mused. Out of all the planets that Qui Gon had travelled, Obi-Wan sincerely doubted that he’d settle in Mandalore. It didn’t exactly hold great memories for Qui Gon, but it hadn’t been an easy mission either. Qui Gon hadn’t been one for Civil Wars after Melida/Daan so to find the bond waking up in Mandalore, of all places surprised him.

He vowed to follow it later since Anakin was starting to slip out of his sight.

Sighing a bit at his padawan’s impatience, he moved to catch up with him, finding him talking to a black and red Zabrak holding a small, reddish skinned toddler on his shoulders. They stood outside a neat, but cluttered shop showing its wares in the large, clean windows. The sight of the Zabrak stirred memories of five years back and of losing his master to a Zabrak that looked similar. Surely it couldn’t be him. 

And if it was, why was the bond wide awake and whispering for him to  _ wait? _

Before he could explore that request further, the half-opened door of the shop opened further, letting the second figure out.

And making Obi-Wan’s head swirl in surprise and joy at seeing his Master standing there, alive and well and with a younger Zabrak kitten clinging to his trousers and a baby nestled in his arms, their head lying against his chest. His hair was threaded with far more grey and was longer, his skin a bit more lined. But the eyes and the smile were still the same.

“Qui Gon! Qui Gon!”

Obi-Wan cried out moving forward to make sure that it wasn’t just a wishful thought and it was his old master standing there with half-Zabrak kittens. 

Qui Gon froze for a few moments, then reached out to clasp Obi-Wan’s shoulder tightly like he used to do. His face creased into the familiar grin and the bond sang between them after being near silent for so long. 

“It’s...It’s so good to see you. Both of you.” 

Qui Gon broke the silence, squeezing Obi-Wan’s shoulder, then dropping his hand to his side, to securely hold the baby who was peeking at Obi-Wan with curious navy eyes like his father’s. Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow at the feel of the baby’s Force signature. He certainly was strong in the Force!

He caught Qui Gon’s rueful grin before he turned to look at the Zabrak and Anakin, who had stopped their negotiations at the sight in front of them. He also noted that the Zabrak was looking at him far too sharply and promised himself to be careful around him. Obi-Wan was positive most Zabraks didn’t take too kindly to strangers touching their mates. Especially if their mates had just had babies. 

Qui Gon huffed a quiet sigh and turned back to his mate.

“Maul, I think we need to take this inside. There’s more than components we need to discuss.”

Maul, the Zabrak gave a jerky nod at the words. “And Jango?”

“He’s inside, making dinner. Come on.”

  
  
  
  



End file.
